make it easier for the public to see what meetings ministers have and make changes to the law through reforms of the lobbying system

We introduced fixed-term Parliaments of 5 years in September 2011. Fixed-term Parliaments mean that Prime Ministers no longer have the power to call a general election when they want, so the party in power cannot choose a date that would give the party an advantage in elections (eg because opinion polls are in their favour).

The date of the next general election is scheduled to be 7 May 2015.

As part of our continuing work on constitutional and political reform, we’re also working to increase voter registrations as much as possible.

Background

We have published details of ministerial meetings and how government obtains goods and services, along with a number of other items of public interest.